Sony and Logitech were Google's hardware launch partners for Google TV, but there were other companies looking at building their own hardware. One such company was Samsung, who even showed off a couple of early devices at CES 2011. Google wasn't too keen on CE manufacturers showing their Google TV offerings last January and evidently Samsung wasn't too keen on jumping into the market with their devices right away as it has been the better part of a year since CES 2011 and we are only now hearing hints that Samsung and Google are still working together. The promise that Samsung is looking to do something different with their Google TV offering is certainly intriguing, though it suggests that Samsung has completely scrapped their early plans. Google TV got a jolt in the arm from the recent 2.0 launch, but there has not been any new hardware to go with it. Would landing a brand as big as Samsung be the vote of confidence that the platform needs?

The only logical difference could be in a custom user interface. Google TV is essentially Honeycomb reskinned for a larger screen. If Samsung wants their models to stand out — and they usually do — perhaps they turned to the same engineers that designed its current line of Internet TVs.